WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump will host the presidents of five West and Central African nations for a White House lunch on Wednesday, with trade, investment, and security expected to dominate the closed-door discussions.
The visiting leaders — from Senegal, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, and Gabon — were invited by Trump for the high-level engagement, taking place in the State Dining Room of the executive mansion. Though the White House has offered few specifics on the agenda, officials from the African countries say they expect the talks to focus on economic partnerships and regional stability.
The meeting comes at a time when the Trump administration is sharpening its global trade strategy and reassessing America’s foreign aid policies. Just days ago, Washington formally closed the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a move the administration hailed as the end of “charity-based” international engagement. The shift reflects a broader push by the White House to prioritize investment-led diplomacy over traditional aid.
Liberia’s President Joseph Boakai, one of the attending leaders, accepted the invitation with a view to reframe his country’s relationship with the U.S. “Our interest is to look more to trade and engagement partners who will invest,” Boakai’s press secretary, Kula Fofana, told AFP ahead of the meeting.
Echoing similar sentiments, Gabonese presidential spokesman Theophane Biyoghe said the summit presents an opportunity to promote “synergies centred around the industrialisation of our economy.”
Despite the renewed emphasis on trade, the five nations do not possess the vast mineral reserves of other African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, their strategic location along the Atlantic Coast and emerging economic profiles remain significant to Washington, particularly in light of increasing competition from global powers such as China and Russia.
Beijing has made large infrastructure investments in several African countries in recent years, while Moscow has built ties with the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States — a bloc made up of military-run Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso — which borders some of the visiting nations.
Security is also expected to be a critical topic. Guinea-Bissau, a known transit hub for cocaine trafficking from Latin America to Europe, recently extradited four convicted drug traffickers to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo called the visit “very important,” describing it as “a great economic opportunity” for his country.
Still, the visit comes with an air of caution. Past White House meetings have sparked controversy — notably when Trump presented South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with a video propagating unfounded claims of a “white genocide,” and when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was caught in a political firestorm over a call with Trump that led to the president’s first impeachment.
This time, the African leaders are not expected to face the press following the lunch. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday only that President Trump would be “hosting leaders of five African nations” and offered no additional comments.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of four of the visiting countries — Gabon, Liberia, Mauritania, and Senegal — in a draft list of nations reportedly under consideration for a U.S. travel ban has raised eyebrows. An internal memo last month revealed the administration is weighing whether to expand the controversial immigration restrictions.
For now, the visiting presidents hope to strike a delicate balance between diplomacy and economic opportunity, in what could be a defining engagement for U.S.-Africa relations under the Trump administration.
